The name of the Club shall be the INVERNESS MOUNTAINEERING CLUB. The club shall be located in and operate from Inverness.

2 — OBJECTIVES

2.1 The objectives of the Club shall be:

to encourage and facilitate the pursuit of mountaineering in the Highlands of Scotland and elsewhere.

to further the interests of mountaineering and mountaineers.

to provide a social venue for mutual help, support and events such as slide shows, lectures, etc.

to make it easier for members to undertake climbing and mountaineering by organising meets, booking huts and combining transport.

3 — LIABILITIES

3.1 The club does not take responsibility for the participants on club activities (including club meets). Club members are responsible for themselves and their own actions. The UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) states “Climbing and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement”.

4 – MEMBERSHIP

4.1 Any candidate for membership of the Club must be at least 18 years old. Application for membership shall be made to the Secretary, Treasurer or Meets Secretary. On payment of the annual subscription the candidate will become a full member of the Club.

4.2 The constitution will be available on the Inverness Mountaineering Club website, and all new members will be provided with a copy of the constitution or a link to its published location on the website.

4.3 The committee may turn down any new application for membership. The committee may terminate the membership of an existing member but must give a reason in writing for its actions. The member concerned will have a right of appeal to the office-bearing members of the Committee whose decision will be final.

4.4 All paid-up members shall be entitled to attend and vote at all General Meetings. They shall also be entitled to attend all meets and excursions and social functions of the Club.

5 – SUBSCRIPTIONS

5.1 The annual subscription shall be determined at an Annual General Meeting.

5.2 Any proposal to change the subscription shall be included in the agenda for the next AGM and given to members with the notice of that meeting.

5.3 The annual subscription shall be due and payable on acceptance of the application for membership and every succeeding 1st April. The Treasurer shall remind members when the annual subscription becomes due.

5.4 Members whose subscriptions are more than three months in arrears shall be reported to the Committee and such member shall be held to have resigned.

6 — OFFICE BEARERS

6.1 The office bearers of the Club shall be President, Secretary, Treasurer and Meets Secretary.

6.2 The Meets Secretary shall have the role of arranging a series of outdoor meets through the year. The Meets Secretary shall not be responsible for any further arrangements such as the arrangement of transport and/or food, information about the area or equipment and clothing required. Such information shall be the responsibility of the individual member at all times.

7 — MANAGEMENT

7.1 The management of the Club shall be vested in a Committee which shall consist of the office bearers and four other paid-up members.

7.2 The office bearers shall be elected at the AGM of the Club and shall hold office from the day following the AGM until the close of the next AGM.

7.3 The four other members of the Committee shall be elected at the AGM of the Club and shall hold office from the day following the AGM until the close of the next AGM.

7.4 The office bearers shall retire annually but shall be eligible for re-election provided always that the President and Treasurer shall not hold their respective offices for more than three consecutive years.

7.5 In the case of a casual vacancy occurring in the office of President, the Secretary shall temporarily fill the office until the close of the next AGM.

7.6 The Committee shall have power to co-opt a person to fill any casual vacancy that occurs in the Committee to hold office for the remainder of the year.

7.7 The Committee shall have power to vote sums of money to purchase books, maps or other articles and to meet other incidental expenses connected with the management of the Club and to cover any deficiencies on Club meets, excursions or other functions.

8 — RECORDS OF BUSINESS INCLUDING ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT

8.1 Minutes shall be made of the proceedings and resolutions at all business meetings of the members and of the Committee.

8.2 The Treasurer shall be responsible for keeping the Club accounts. The Club accounts will be submitted for approval by all members at the Annual General Meeting of the Club.

8.3 The financial year of the Club shall end at the last day of March, and thereafter the Treasurer shall submit to the Committee the accounts for the year.

9 — MEETINGS

9.1 The Annual General Meeting of the Club shall be held in Inverness on a date to be determined by the Committee within the four weeks following the date of the AGM of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, for the following purposes:

to receive the Committee’s report on the past year’s activities.

to receive and approve the Treasurer’s accounts for the year.

to elect office bearers and other Committee members for the ensuing year.

to approve the annual subscription for the following membership year.

to transact any other competent business.

9.2 The Committee shall have the power to call extraordinary general meetings at such times as it shall see fit.

3 Alternatively, an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) shall be called by the Secretary on receiving a request to that effect signed by four non-Committee members of the Club and specifying the object for which the EGM is to be called. Any EGM called by such a request shall take place within four weeks of receipt by the Secretary of such a request.

9.4 The notice calling any EGM shall specify the business to be transacted. It shall not be competent to transact any other business at any such EGM.

9.5 Notice of an AGM or EGM shall be given to all members in writing at least 28 days before the date of the meeting.

10 — CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION

10.1 Only an EGM shall have power, by a vote of not less than two-thirds of the number of members present and voting, to alter or add to the existing Constitution of the Club, provided that intimation of the proposed changes has been given in the notice calling the EGM.

11 — CHAIR

11.1 The Chair at all meetings shall be taken by the President of the Club or, in his/her absence, by the Secretary. In their absence the meeting shall elect a chair from among the other club members present.

11.2 The Chair of all meetings shall, in the case of equality of votes, have a second or casting vote.

12 — QUORUM

12.1 Twelve members shall constitute a quorum at all General Meetings and five members shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of the Committee.

13 — CLUB MEETS

13.1 The social and mountaineering meets of the Club shall be fixed by the Committee.

13.2 No member of the Club shall be designated as leader, instructor, equipment officer or storeman. No member of the Club will be formally recognised to act on behalf of the Club in such roles on any event or activity organised by the Club.

13.3 The rules and procedures of booking the meets shall be established by the Committee and maintained by the Meets Secretary.

13.4 The rules and procedures shall be published on the Inverness Mountaineering Club website, and provided with any printed copy of the published meets list.

14 — DISBANDING THE CLUB

14.1 The Club may be disbanded following a decision of not less than two-thirds of the paid-up members of the Club.

14.2 In the event of the Club disbanding any funds or assets of the Club shall be donated to a Mountain Rescue Organisation chosen by the remaining members of the Club.

REVISION TO THE CONSTITUTION

This Constitution was revised by the Committee of the Inverness Mountaineering Club and approved by the membership at an Extraordinary General Meeting held under the rules of the Constitution on 23 April 2015.